Six nominations for Oxford

Oxford University dominates this year's shortlist for Guardian Student Media Awards.

Congratulations go to the following for making the shortlist:

Cherwell - Publication of the Year

Alligator - Publication of the Year

Tom Rowley (OxStu) - Reporter of the Year

Camilla Turner (Cherwell) - Reporter of the Year

Oliver Moody (Cherwell) - Writer of the Year

Mimi Kempton-Stewart (Oxymoron) - Digital journalist of the Year

Other Universities prominent in the shortlist were:

University of York - 4 nominations

University of Manchester - 3 nominations

We couldn't help but notice that the other place (Cambridge), was nowhere to be seen. Writer's block?

Great speakers for MT10

We're delighted to announce a list of fantastic speakers for the term ahead. Come along to as many as you can - £2 entry on the door or membership for the whole year is just £10 (email oxfordmediasoc@gmail.com).

The speakers are as follows (venues to be announced nearer the time):

SIMON KELNER Editor, The Independent
Sunday 24 October, 8pm
A newspaper editor of the year, Simon Kelner has edited The Independent for ten years, not including two years as Managing Director of The Independent and The Independent on Sunday. He masterminded the paper's campaigning 'poster' front pages, its innovative 'viewspaper' and the paper's recent relaunch under new owner Alexander Lebedev. The Independent was the first UK 'broadsheet' to switch to a tabloid format - a move replicated around the world. He is GQ Editor of the Year 2010.

PETER BAZALGETTE Creator of Big Brother
Monday 25 October, 8pm
Named "the most influential man in British television", Peter Bazalgette brought the Big Brother format to the UK and successfully sold it around the world. His production company, since bought by Dutch giant Endemol, was responsible for Deal or No Deal, Ready Steady Cook, Changing Rooms and Ground Force.

MAX CLIFFORD Celebrity publicist
Wednesday 27 October, 8pm
KINDLY SPONSORED BY WPP
The "king of kiss-and-tell", Max Clifford claims to have been responsible for 170 national newspaper front pages in the last 18 months. He has represented clients including Simon Cowell, Mohamed Al-Fayed, Cheryl Cole, Jade Goody, John Prescott's diary secretary Tracey Temple and Rebecca Loos. He was responsible for one of the most famous (and most fictitious) newspaper front pages ever: "Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster". Whenever several tabloids are bidding for a big exclusive story, it is more likely than not that Max Clifford is sitting gleefully at the centre of the action.

JOHN RYLEY Head of Sky News
Thursday 11 November, 8pm
"News nerd" John Ryley has been at Sky News for 15 years, heading up the entire operation for the past five. The channel has won RTS News Channel of the Year four years running under his leadership, but perhaps his most impressive accomplishment was pulling off the first Prime Ministerial TV debates during the recent general election.

JOHN KAY Chief Reporter, The Sun
Sunday 14 November, 8pm
Veteran Sun chief reporter John Kay is a Fleet Street legend. He has been the paper's chief reporter for the past 20 years, and a Sun reporter since 1974. Former editor of the paper Rebekah Brooks said she'd like to clone him, while respected media commentator Roy Greenslade said "every trainee reporter should spend a day with Kay". Named one of British journalism's top reporters ever by his peers, he has twice been named Reporter of the Year and has been responsible for many of the biggest scoops in the paper's history. He will be speaking on "the art of reporting" - a must for any student journalist or potential future reporter.

MORAY MacLENNAN Worldwide CEO, M&C Saatchi
Monday 22 November, 8pm
Moray MacLennan runs one of the biggest advertising companies in the world, founded by advertising legends Maurice and Charles Saatchi, who created the famous "Labour isn't working" 1979 election poster. Its clients include Coca-Cola, Sharp, Dixons, Heinz, Transport for London and the Conservative Party. The award-winning agency has offices in 11 countries, including the US, Hong Kong and India.

DAVID ABRAHAM CEO, Channel Four
Tuesday 30 November, 8pm
One of TV's best commercial talents, this former head of UKTV was poached by Channel Four earlier this year to reinvigorate its schedules and boost its revenues. "David Abraham's arrival has electrified Channel Four", a panel of media experts recently concluded. The former advertising agency boss has won plaudits for rebranding UKTV G2 as Dave. A former vice president of the Discovery Channel, he has adopted a risk-taking strategy at Channel Four, saying: "I would far rather that commissioners adopted a 'no guts, no glory' approach than played it safe."

Looking forward to seeing you at one of the events soon.

Marta and Tom xx

Oxford hits London

Quite a few of Oxford's journohacks embarked on placements in the Fleet street. From The Hedge Fund review, through the Economist's Intelligent Life to daily newspapers in Rupert Murdoch's empire, many got a taste of how it is to be a real journalist. Oxford Media Society has asked a couple of them to describe their experiences at the publications.

Tamsin Meakin, Christ Church - The Daily Telegraph

I spent three weeks working at The Daily Telegraph on the online fashion desk and the daily business desk. The paper has just launched a new fashion website so much of my time was spent helping with its construction; it could be quite laborious work but it meant I picked up lots of transferable technical skills. My time with the business desk was a steep learning curve but incredibly interesting. I was lucky enough to be given articles to write for the website and the paper which meant I felt I could make a tangible contribution. Everyone I met at the paper was very welcoming and keen to ensure that all of the interns were kept busy and useful - not photocopying and making tea!

And here are some of Tamsin's articles:

Rolls-Royce-engine-trouble-sees-further-delays-to-Boeings-Dreamliner

888-scraps-dividend-as-World-Cup-Europe-debt-woes-halve-profits

Bidding-war-for-3PAR-escalates-as-HP-tops-Dell-again

Tamsin also contributed to other financial publications, such as The Hedge Fund review.

Us-securities-exchange-commission-announces-waiver-credit-ratings-requirements

Harry Phillips, Magdalen - The Sunday Times

I had a great time on the News Review desk: the people with whom I worked were at once formidably talented yet easily approachable. They made me feel very much part of a team as I carried out tasks ranging from translation of a German article about AIDS, phone interviews, research into tantric sex and the writing of short news pieces. The best thing was the nature of the section meant that if ever I didn't have anything to do, I could always read the day's papers for ideas. I liked that this counted as work.

Harry was one of this year's Rupert Murdoch scholars from the News International Placement Scheme. Other students on the placements were:

News of the World - Georgia Linday, Sarah Ventress

Susan-Boyle-gets-waxed

The Sunday Times - Marie Henderson, Rebecca Ratcliffe

The Times - Hannah Chambers, Izzy Boggild-Jones, Nithya Natarajan

The Sun - Oxford Media Society's own Tom Rowley

The-mystery-of-mutilated-seals

Strictly-Come-Sponging

Camilla Turner, St Catz - The Observer and The Intelligent Life

This summer I spent a week at the News Desk of the Observer (which I got by writing to them asking for work experience, attaching a CV and some cuttings). During the week, I attended various meetings (politics, news and editorial meeting), carried out news trawls, assisted the science editor with some research about dot com entrepreneurs investing in space and researched and wrote an article about funding of Russell Group universities. Overall, I had a very enjoyable week.

Camilla's contribution to The Observer:

Elon-musk-spacex-rocket-mars

I also interned at the Economist - at their quarterly arts supplement Intelligent Life. I was supposed to do it for 5 weeks but resigned after three as it was basically unpaid secretarial work e.g. answering the phone, sorting post etc. I would not recommend interning at quarterly magazines.